Silver nanoclusters decked diamond thin film as a substrate for surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Modified diamond thin film surfaces are proven candidates for bio-sensoric applications. A typical polycrystalline diamond thin film surface decked with silver (Ag) nanoclusters is found to be suitable for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Simple and time effective procedures are used to fabricate Ag nanoclusters/diamond/silicon structure. Standard Rhodamine 6G probe molecules are used to access the SERS activity of the test surface. The observed SERS activity is explained in terms of predominant electromagnetic enhancement mechanism. This work is expected to benefit SERS based bio-sensing with diamond as the core sensing material